By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday February 23, 2020
Chile's Cristian Garin increased his winning streak to nine and claimed his second title in three weeks at the Rio Open.
Photo Source: Getty
Cristian Garin is looking more and more formidable on clay each week.
The Chilean surged to his first 500-level title on Sunday at the Rio Open, extending his winning streak to nine as he claimed his fourth ATP title and second in three weeks by defeating Borna Coric (continuation from Saturday’s semifinal) and Gianluca Mager in straight sets.
Garin improves to 37-17 lifetime on the clay with his title in Rio and he will rise to a career-high 18 in the ATP rankings on Monday.
Garin needed just four games to finish off Borna Coric 6-4 7-5 and in the final he knocked off Italian qualifier Mager to improve to 4-1 in ATP finals.
After Garin took the opening set in a tiebreaker, Mager was in the lead and looking ready to force a decider, but he failed to serve out the set at 5-4 and ended up dropping the final four games of the contest.
Nevertheless it was a great week for Mager, who began the week with just two ATP level wins to his name and created the upset of the tournament when he defeated Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals.
23-year-old Garin will become the first Chilean to hold a Top 20 ranking since the great Fernando Gonzalez in 2010.